Allowing for movement in a chest

[brtech]

I'm going to build a hope chest. I scored some really nice 5/4 ambrosia maple around 12" wide on sale for $3/bdf. I'm going to resaw it in half and use it with the grain running left to right for the front, top and sides. When resawn, planed and sanded, I think it won't be strong enough, so I'm thinking I should build an internal frame and attach the maple to it. I'm thinking rails and stiles of some hardwood (need another trip to the lumberyard, oh joy). The rails should expand with the maple, but the grain on the stiles would be running at right angles. If I wanted to allow the glued up maple boards to move relative to the frame, how would I attach them to the frame? I wanted to dovetail the maple sides to the front, so I really have a box in a box. In fact, since the inside will be lined with aromatic cedar, it will be a box in a box in a box.

[cosmocyb]

How thin were you planning on making the sides? Are you going to make book match veneer? Why not make the rails and stiles from quilted maple and slide the ambrosia in as panels? You would still have enough material inside for attaching the aromatic cedar?

[Gregory Paolini]

Brtech,

You could make the entire case piece from frame and panel construction, joining the framework togeather at the corners, thus eliminating wood movement concerns.

here's an example of a piece I made a few years back, using that concept

Purrfect Chest

Slotted screw holes are another way you could do it, although I would steer away from that direction - Plainsawn maple will expand contract about 1/4" per foot of cross grain width between the wet and dry seasons....

Hope this helps

-gregory

[brtech]

My wife would prefer the exterior be just glued up panels. I tried to sell frame and panel, but no dice.

The ambrosia maple is 5/4 rough sawn. I plan to resaw in half, then plane (the inner face could be rough). So I'm starting with 5/8 minus half a bandsaw kerf and planing at least one side down from there. So the material is going to be under 1/2" thick, maybe closer to 3/8"

[Beechwood Chip]

Plywood box (no movement). Bookmatched maple veneer outside (no movement, veneer is thin). Aromatic ceder veneer inside (no movement, veneer is thin). Bob's your uncle.

It's not what I would choose, but if She Who Must Be Obeyed says glued up panels, no frames, then that's what we make.

[BillN]

Plywood box (no movement). Bookmatched maple veneer outside (no movement, veneer is thin). Aromatic ceder veneer inside (no movement, veneer is thin. Bob's your uncle.

It's not what I would choose, but if She Who Must Be Obeyed says glued up panels, no frames, then that's what we make.

This may sound goofy, but could you strengthen it by creating a pseudoboard where the grain runs the same way as the glueup? Sort of like your glueup panel but only a few inches wide. You would gain some strength, but obviously not as much as a perpendicular board. The advantage would that both pieces would move at the same rate since there would be no crossgrain to contend with. The screwslot approach should work although you will have the screws to deal with.

[Beechwood Chip]

This may sound goofy, but could you strengthen it by creating a pseudoboard where the grain runs the same way as the glueup? Sort of like your glueup panel but only a few inches wide. You would gain some strength, but obviously not as much as a perpendicular board. The advantage would that both pieces would move at the same rate since there would be no crossgrain to contend with. The screwslot approach should work although you will have the screws to deal with.

I can't picture this. What needs to be strengthened? Could you maybe do a sketch (eg, SketchUp)?

[BillN]

Simply create (via a glueup) a "board" made up of several pieces of wood where the grain runs the same way as the boards in the chest. It won't be as strong as a real board with grain running perpendicular to the chest boards, but it will probably be stronger than not having anything at all and it will eliminate the movement issue since it will (if the same type of wood is used) move in tandem with the chest boards. Just an idea. I have no idea how well it will work.

[Beechwood Chip]

You are right that if the grain is parallel, you don't have to worry about wood movement. And you are right that if you don't have a board wide enough (side to side vs the grain), you can glue up a wider board.

Here's the way I see it. You have the front, back, and both sides of a box. Say the grain all runs the same way: horizontally. There's no problem with wood movement because all the pieces move in sync.

Now, you want to put a bottom on the box. Whichever way the grain goes, it's going to be perpendicular to something.